


It Had to be You

by TwigstheShifter



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I guess???, top surgery, transgender character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22541251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwigstheShifter/pseuds/TwigstheShifter
Summary: Jigen’s in for the most important operation of his life and now the rug gets pulled out from underneath him. Naturally.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

God. Damn it. Of course. Of course nothing ever goes as planned.

“Don’t worry so much Jigen,” Lupin waved him off, “you’re gonna give yourself a coronary.”

“Oh yeah why should I worry, it’s not like it’s the biggest procedure I’ve ever had. Silly fuckin me.”

Lupin frowned at him, “You’ve had plenty other way more risky surgeries. This’ll be a piece of cake.”

Jigen shut up. There was no way Lupin would ever understand that it wasn’t necessarily the risk that was making this such a big deal. There was very little risk actually, as the nimrod had carelessly reminded him, especially since they were going to see the absolute best. Lupin, despite not understanding the weight, did understand that you get what you pay for when it comes to these sorts of things. And, despite his nonchalance at the moment, Lupin did care deeply for Jigen and ultimately wanted him to be happy. Hence, why Lupin was paying for it out of pocket himself.

Jigen stewed in his seat, “So what about my ride back? It’s not like Goemon can drive, he’s not gonna be back until the week after.”

He was somewhat hoping Lupin would tell him that he’d coaxed Goemon into cutting his training trip short.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it, Fujiko’s covering for me.”

Jigen took a second to process that, “…WHAT?”

Lupin held his hands up defensively, “Hey, hey. She’s way better at that comfort thing than I am. You know that.”

“Did you also know that I’m not out to her?”

“…I didn’t actually.”

Dumbass. Stupid son of a bitch. What a motherfucker.

“So what does she think it’s for then? Did you tell her ‘Oh hey yeah Jigen’s getting his tiddies lobbed off next week. He needs you to help him.’ Huh?”

“No I just told her you were getting some work done on your chest. I thought she’d know what I was talking about.” Lupin curled his fist around his mouth in thought, tapping his index against the tip of his nose, “You sure you’ve never come out to her? I could’ve sworn she’s grabbed at em once or twice.”

“Yes I’m sure.” Jigen folded his arms in front of the chest he was now uncomfortably very aware of.

Lupin looked down at the ground as he thought. God what an idiot. They’d gone to all the appointments together, he’d signed off as the caretaker, he’s the one who learned how to empty the drain during the pre op appointment, he’s the one who knew how to prop up his pillows just right so he doesn’t mess up any of the stitches,…he’s the one Jigen trusted to apply the ointment to his chest until he regained full use of his arms. Not. Fujiko.

“Why’re you going so suddenly anyways?” Jigen tried not to sound betrayed, “I thought we had this down pat.”

“Unfortunately there was a change of plans. That Renoir I’ve had my eye on is being moved temporarily to a medium security warehouse in Sacramento while the museum is getting its roof refinished. Guess that earthquake a few days ago opened a leak near it.”

Fuck earthquakes.

“If things go ahead of schedule I should be back while you’re still under the knife.” Lupin kissed the top of Jigen’s head, wrestling a grumble from him.

“And if they don’t?”

“Well this seems like as good of a bonding experience as any for you two.”

Jigen glared up at the bastard. Fuck him too.


	2. Really?

He was really not looking forward to dinner tonight. Fujiko was coming to sleep over since the surgery was very early and she was being whiny about having to meet him at the clinic so he was gonna have to drive her. Bitch. To make matters worse he was gonna have to tell her about her responsibilities until Goemon got back since somebody didn’t want to own up to his mistake and decided to galavant off to Sacramento. He hated coming out to people, it was much easier to let people put two and two together themselves if they knew him well enough.

He hardly heard the knock at the door over his inner grumblings. He briefly considered not answering it, I mean, how dangerous was it actually to drive after anesthetic? Probably not nearly as risky as speeding through a crowded market with the cops on your tail.

“Jigen~” Fujiko sang, “I know you’re home. Why don’t you answer the door?”

Ugh.

He got up from his reclined position on the couch with a grunt before going over to unlock the knob. She could open the damn thing if she wanted in so badly. Which she did, promptly, hitting the door square against Jigen’s back.

“Oof!”

“Oh sorry!” She came the rest of the way into the hideout with a plastic takeout bag swinging in hand, “Didn’t know you were right there.”

“Yeah yeah.” Jigen jammed his hands down into his pockets as he sauntered towards the kitchen to get his jello and chicken broth. The second worst part of this procedure was not eating the shit he wanted to before it.

“You look…casual.” 

He turned his head over his shoulder to stare at her. He was wearing grey sweatpants with a few mystery stains that he wasn’t strong enough to ask Lupin what they were when he borrowed them from him and a large billowy shirt that said World’s Greatest Dad, also borrowed from Lupin. It wasn’t what he was particularly keen on wearing but the doctor had recommended wearing only loose clothing before tomorrow morning.

“Thanks.”

Fujiko hummed as she found her way to the table, daintily setting down the bag. Jigen could smell whatever it was, it had a lot of grease and was only slightly spicy. Not like Goemon’s choice of comfort food aka burn your mouth and your ass. As she sat down, Jigen set his clear liquid diet meal down across from her.

“You know it’s nice to not have to worry about Lupin,” Fujiko started to unpack the sack which Jigencould now clearly see was from Buffalo Wild Wings, “I’d never eat these anywhere near him.”

His brows knit in confusion. What was so bad about buffalo wings? And, as if she could hear his thoughts, Jigen got his answer. As she ate she would suck on the bones, making a very noticeable and loud slurping noise. Ah. He didn’t necessarily care, he didn’t have a reaction other than the smell making his stomach growl for something other than jello.

“So.” Fujiko said as she wiped her mouth politely as if she hadn’t just sounded like a Hoover stuck on a water balloon, “What’s this operation really about?”

Jigen nearly choked.

“I know you’re not actually vain enough to get plastic surgery, so what is it? Your heart? Stomach? You’re getting a tumor removed?”

He swallowed carefully this time, “Uh actually, it technically is plastic surgery.”

“Oh?”

God he hated this. Kill him now.

“Yeah I’m uh,” Jigen fumbled for his words, “I’m getting top surgery.”

Fujiko tilted her head to the side. Now genuinely interested. “What’s that?”

Oh god, oh fuck. He took a sip of his water, cursing that whiskey wasn’t considered part of his clear liquid diet.

“It’s-“ he convinced himself he just needed to get on with it, “it’s when a transgender person gets a mastectomy.”

Those were the terms he’d used when he’d explained what was happening to Goemon, who seemed to understand immediately. Hopefully she would too.

“Oh.” Fujiko drummed her fingertips on the tabletop awkwardly, “I had no idea you were trans.”

“Yeah I get that a lot.”

“Though there’s something I don’t get. Would you mind clearing it up for me?”

Jigen’s heart began to pound, her tone was unreadable. Was she ok with him being trans? Was she gonna try to preach some transphobic shit to him? Was she gonna leave? Was she gonna attack him? He carefully placed his hand on his waistband, on the side where he was hiding his holster. She better not try anything.

“Sure.” He said, trying to sound as easygoing as possible.

“Why would you want to get a mastectomy if you want to be a woman?”


	3. Chapter 3

Jigen sputtered, THAT certainly wasn’t what he was expecting.

“No, no I’m transitioning the other way.”

Fujiko took a few seconds to piece it together, “Woman to man?”

Not the best wording, but he’d take it, “Yes.”

“But you don’t look like a woman?”

“That’s the point!”

Fujiko really seemed to think on this, as Jigen felt himself dying more inside as the seconds ticked by.

“So…what do you do to become a man? I’m sorry I’ve never met anyone trans before.” She seemed genuinely interested, which disarmed Jigen.

“Uh.” He swallowed, trying to figure out her angle, “Well, it’s different for everyone, but I’m taking testosterone and I’ll be getting the top surgery tomorrow. I…don’t know yet if I wanna get anything else done.”

“Huh.” She leaned forward to rest her cheek on her palm, “What do you mean by that?”

Jigen’s face was dusted with a light blush, he felt a little embarrassed to talk so candidly about this with someone who wasn’t aware of his situation scarcely 5 minutes ago. Hell it took him a couple weeks to feel ok to talk about it with Lupin.

“The other options are, um, called bottom surgery so they deal with what’s going on below the belt.” God this sounded corny, “It can be anything from gettin’ my tubes tied to getting a dick made.”

“Oh.”

Jigen just about wanted to puff up into a plume of smoke. He tugged his hat further down to hide himself, and looked down at his food. He realized he wasn’t really hungry anymore, not with these nerves gripping his stomach like this. He needed to go lay down. As he stood to go escape to his room, he felt a soft hand pet his own. His eyes trailed up her arm before finally coming to rest at her face, which was painted with a gentle look of concern.

“Hey.” she practically whispered, rubbing her Buffalo sauce covered thumb across the top of his hand, “Why don’t you tell me more about what I have to do tomorrow before you go?”

Jigen took his hand back, he didn’t particularly like Fujiko touching him in the first place and he certainly didn’t like that she was making his hand sticky. He grumbled to himself, thinking over his options, before deciding that either he was gonna have to tell her or she would look it up on the computer. God knows how much misinformation there was on those damn machines. He huffed, and sat back down.

“Alright fine.” He spit onto his hand then took a napkin to wipe off the sauce, “Whaddya wanna know?”

“Just…what I need to. I suppose.”

God he hated when she got cutesy like this. He crossed his arms again.

“I need you to drive me back here after we’re done and that’s it.”

“What, you just want me to drop you off at the front door?”

“Ideally yes, actually.” 

That sure wiped that stupid cutesy look off her face. If he wasn’t so pissed he might’ve snickered.

“You don’t want me to help you get to bed or anything? You’re going to be pretty unstable.”

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue in annoyance, “I’ve stumbled into harder places to get into than this. You’re acting like I’ve never been high outta my mind before.”

Fujiko frowned. Good. Maybe she’ll leave. And maybe if she leaves she’ll find a way to tell Lupin and he’ll come back and-

Just then Jigen’s phone rang. It was an unknown number but he wasn’t one to really care about that sort of thing.

“Hello?”

“Hey there is this Kay’s Jewelers?” to someone who didn’t know him, they’d think Lupin was perfectly calm. However, Jigen knew the dumbass enough to tell he was frustrated. He also knew him well enough to know that Kay’s Jewelers was code for ‘my dumbass got caught and I’m using my one phone call’.

Jigen did his best American accent, “Yes sir, how can I help you?”

“I had a watch you guys were resetting that I’d arranged to be picked up tomorrow morning. Unfortunately I have some business to attend to, would you be able to hold onto it for a few more days?”

“Let me check with my manager.” He held the receiver to his shoulder and asked Fujiko, “Oi, do we got a watch?”

Fujiko looked at him, not getting it. Must’ve not been clued into Lupin’s code.

“I think so? I imagine there’s a few here?”

Jigen nodded, not really paying attention to what she said, before holding the phone up to his ear again. “What brand was it again?”

“Zenith.”

So the frickin warehouse had been a set up by Zenigata. Made sense, who stored a Renoir in a medium security facility anyways?

“We can do that sir, but there will be a late fee.”

Lupin faked a huff, “Fine. Thank you.”

“Ok, thank you for calling Kay’s have a good day.” Jigen ended the call, and stopped doing that frickin American accent that hurt his throat. He glared at Fujiko from under the brim of his hat, “Alright. So you might have to do more than just drop me off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I know it got preachy towards the middle there but whatever


End file.
